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The success of any containerboard price increase attempt is always ruled by supply and demand dynamics. The fight to get this latest increase ($50 per ton on kraft linerboard and [...]

Ask any box making industry veteran about how to understand containerboard prices and he will say with a smile, 'They're cither going up or they're going down.' Well, guess what? [...]

Buying finished corrugated boxes nowadays should be easy and straightforward, right? Wrong. Who you buy from often determines price and service levels. Do you want a long-term relationship and first [...]

In June 2009, Lou Cortes, president, The Standard Group (TSG), Louisville, Ky., was pitching a potential customer in the food business. When it came time to take a tour of [...]

For years now, management at independent folding carton converter General Converting Inc. (GCI), Bolingbrook, Ill., has promoted to its employees the importance of minimizing its carbon footprint. But it knows [...]

White top linerboard (WTL) is sporting some black and blue bruises. This premium containerboard grade has taken some hits in this tough economy. For years, corrugated box makers have used [...]

In May 2005, Lisa Hirsh, president, Accurate Box Co., and her husband, Mark Schlossman, executive vice president, were visiting the headquarters of an international food and beverage producer, trying to [...]

Five years ago, Green Bay Packaging's (GBP) folding carton plant in Green Bay, Wis., had a problem that any converter would love to have: It was so busy that it [...]

Solving problems can often be as easy getting people together in one room to discuss them and come up with a solution that makes everyone's job easier. That's why label [...]

The changes that have occurred at the top six U.S. containerboard producers over the past few years have been tumultuous. The key executives at these companies have had to take [...]

When paperboard packaging industry veteran Mike Keough became ceo of Austell, Ga.-based Caraustar Industries, Inc. four years ago, he knew maintaining the status quo was simply not an option. Under [...]

Recently I had the opportunity to sit down with David Scheible, the new president and ceo of Graphic Packaging International (GPI), at the company's Marietta, Ga., headquarters. He has been [...]

Three years ago (October 11, 2003 issue, cover story) we interviewed key executives at Houston-headquartered Recycle America (RA) about their goals and vision for the company. A lot has changed [...]

Recently I traveled to Washington, D.C., to interview Henson Moore, outgoing president and ceo of the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA). He joined the AF&PA in 1995 and has [...]

This past spring Colbert Packaging Corp., Lake Forest, Ill., was awarded the Paperboard Packaging Council's Innovation Award for its BlisterGuard® carded package. It worked with The Topps Company, Inc., an [...]

Earlier this year I met with Steve Klinger, Georgia-Pacific's (GP) executive vice president, packaging, to get a better understanding of where he sees the paperboard packaging industry heading and how [...]

In the recovered paper industry, volume speaks volumes. Steve Ragiel, president of Houston headquartered Recycle America Alliance (RAA) knows this all too well. He cites it as a key reason [...]

Boy, did General Mills' (GM) perspective on innovation change in 2005. Up until that year the sixth largest food company in the world, with $14.9 billion in net sales and [...]

Over the past decade alone, printing multiple colors on corrugated board has improved significantly. Today, blues, greens, yellows, and reds pop out at you on store shelves and at the [...]

Three top executives from major recovered paper processing companies assembled last week at the Paper Recycling Conference & Trade Show in Chicago to address paper recycling industry issues in a [...]

Now the U.S. government knows how Nine Dragons, China's largest containerboard producer, feels. On Aug. 5, ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) downgraded the U.S.'s credit rating from AAA to [...]

Last week the country's largest containerboard producer, International Paper (IP), Memphis, threw down the gauntlet with its $3.4 billion offer ($4.1 billion including debt assumption) to acquire the third largest [...]

NEWS ANALYSIS Confidential conversations with independent box makers through out the country last week revealed that over the past month corrugated box prices have been slipping. Some independents have been [...]

At the American Forest & Paper Association's Paper 2011 in Chicago earlier this year I had the opportunity to sit down with John Dixon, global forest, paper and packaging industry [...]

Who will pay? That's the question a lot of paperboard packaging converters have been asking since new packaging laws and regulations were first introduced in Congress a couple of years [...]

Sorry, Gordon Gekko. Greed is not good. As 'Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps' opens in movie theaters this week, integrated containerboard producers learned that the hard way when they [...]

Recently I had the opportunity to discuss health care reform issues with Gene Marks, a columnist for a number of business publications, including Forbes and Bloomberg's Businessweek. On Oct. 7 [...]

Although integrated containerboard producers told their customers that effective Aug. 1 they would be paying $60 per ton more for kraft liner-board and semichemical medium, that hasn't happened. Yet. Independent [...]

Containerboard producers are in control of their supply. They have been able to push through this year's second price increase with incredible case. Phone interviews with independent box makers throughout [...]

'This is probably the easiest [finished box price] increase I've ever seen in my professional career,' says an executive with a corrugated box maker in New England. A phone survey [...]

Jason Jennings, an authority on business leadership and productivity, will be the Association of Independent Corrugated Converters' (AICC) opening keynote speaker at its Spring Meeting in San Diego, April 14-16. [...]

We're in a recovery but there is a big hole in the future, caused by the recession, says Jim Rubright, chairman and ceo of RockTenn. He was part of a [...]

Canadian paper industry management and unions realize that they're in the middle of a storm, says Jean-Claude Savard, president, Savard Consultants. He has more than 30 years experience in consulting [...]

Over the past year, integrated containerboard producers have done a superb job of eliminating almost three million tons of capacity. As the Great Recession slogged on, executives at such large [...]

Graphic Packaging International's (GPI) David Scheible, president and ceo, is the first to admit that the U.S.'s largest folding carton converter has struggled mightily over the past year. Of course, [...]

When the time comes, do you have what it takes to sell your corrugator or sheet plant? Your quick answer might be a glib yes, but Paul Shine, president of [...]

When you learn how Rock-Tenn's Alliance Division litho laminating plant in Tullahoma, Tenn., earned its keep within the company over the years, you can understand why Jim Vance, its general [...]

'The loonie [Canadian dollar] caused us great grief in 2008,' states Peter Moore, chairman and ceo of Canada's Moore Packaging. 'At 75 cents [against the U.S. dollar] it cost us [...]

Visit a corrugated box plant anywhere in this country and there's a very good chance that you will find at least half a dozen employees with at least 25 years [...]

Recently I sat down with corrugated box industry veteran John Wider& president of California Box Co. (Cal-Box), Santa Fe Springs, Calif., to discuss the lessons he has learned during his [...]

The past few months have seen linerboard prices stabilize. However, the same can't be said for semichemical medium prices, which have softened since OBM last made price adjustments in the [...]

Five years ago, Chipper Hall Jr., 59, took a hard look at his family-run, independent folding carton business, Jacksonville, Fla.-based Rex Corp., and realized he had reached a crossroads that [...]

In light of the tough times all paper recyclers have been going through during the past eight months, how do independents make a profit nowadays? Many answers were provided at [...]

Recently I had the opportunity to discuss the tumultuous recovered paper market of late 2008-early 2009 with Pat DeRueda, president of WM Recycle America (WMRA), a wholly owned subsidiary of [...]

Over the past couple months, the tough stance taken by integrated kraft linerboard and semi-chemical medium producers has weakened substantially. While one producer (International Paper) is still willing to walk [...]

Independent box maker New England Wooden Ware Corp. (NEWW), Garchaer, Mass., has been serving Procter & Gamble's (P&G's) Gillette business for more than 30 years. For 22 consecutive years, the [...]

Late last year independent folding carton converter Diamond Packaging, Rochester, N.Y., became a 100 percent women-owned business when Karla Fichter, chief executive officer, and her sister, Kirsten Werner, president, bought [...]

On Jan. 20, Barack Obama will become the 44m president of the U.S. Although some box makers would argue that it is too early to say how his presidency will [...]

Harry Epstein, vice president/ innovation, HAVI Global Solutions, Downers Grove, Ill., enjoys Iris vacations. But he's not good at planning them. Fortunately, his wife is a great organizer of their [...]

If you had to cite one current trend in the containerboard industry, the obvious one would be consolidation. The latest example of this, of course, would be International Paper's (IP) [...]